Bosun Grogspar
The Talion’s bosun is a veteran sea salt named Balasar Grogspar, though no one ever refers to him by his first name. Grogspar was born and raised on Kithgrav Island, part of the Ordic port of Five Fingers. The hovels and sneak thieves of the city disgusted the young trollkin, who dreamed of escaping to the sea. Grogspar spent his youth working on the docks, where he established a well-respected work ethic in only a few years. He had no patience with the slackers and thugs who occasionally tried to bribe him to let shipments go “missing.” Grogspar’s violent but strangely good-natured reprisals impressed many sailors, and within a few years he had become an expert seaman sought by any number of captains looking to expand their crews. The cantankerous trollkin spends little time pondering discipline aboard ship: he simply hurls worthless lubbers over the rail with his hook. Grogspar eventually reels in those he thinks worth saving, particularly anyone who has shown some skill in battle, after letting them flounder in terror for an appropriate amount of time. Such men quickly find themselves at the front of the next boarding party, and the bosun sheds no tears if they take a bullet to the gut or drop screaming into the waves between ships. Some have mistaken the trollkin’s stern demeanor for an act and attempted to call his bluff. Such idiots rarely get the chance to repeat their blunder. Grogspar is strongly attached to the ships on which he serves and takes any attack on his vessel as a personal affront. Every cannonball strike deepens his frown, causes his teeth to clamp down harder on his pipe, and stokes his battle rage. In defense of his ships he is willing to get creative with his choice of weapons, including delivering cut-rate explosives on the end of a wickedly sharp harpoon. This is but one example of his cruel streak. Few things make the trollkin smile as widely as watching an enemy explode and take down a few of his mates for good measure. Grogspar also enjoys watching a wounded adversary plead for his life as the fuse on the bosun’s explosive harpoon burns toward its fatal terminus. Because of his strong sense of duty, Grogspar was among the most reluctant of the original mutineers who followed Captain Shae to take over the MLS Exeter. It was actually Mr. Walls who finally persuaded him, and to this day Grogspar speaks of the “incident” with a grumble of resentment. Most likely the trollkin would have joined the other side if he had known the mutiny would result in the Exeter’s destruction. The bosun often waxes melancholy about that ship’s fate with more emotion than that inspired by deaths among his current crew, who would do well to insult his family before bringing up that particular subject. Grogspar eventually forgave Shae only because it was the ship’s captain, Laross Fargen, who actually caused the explosion that broke the back of the Exeter and led to its destruction. In retribution, the trollkin personally oversaw Fargen’s brutal execution by strapping him to the Commodore and repeatedly firing the cannon. Grogspar’s responsibilities go well beyond his title. The trollkin has never much heeded those above his station and freely speaks out against any of their “fool ideas.” Shae tolerates this impertinence and sometimes even outright insubordination with good humor, perhaps remembering that Grogspar fished him out of the water when the Exeter’s captain cast him overboard to drown. Most days Grogspar functions as undisputed master of the ship, serving wherever needed most, whether as navigator, carpenter, or master of the watch. The only individual to whom he readily defers is First Mate Hawk, and even she occasionally receives blunt summations of his displeasure. By and large this is accepted without complaint because Grogspar boasts decades of hard-earned experience running the ropes aboard dozens of ships. As skilled a sailor as Shae could hope to find and an unholy terror in battle, Grogspar is one of the few crewmembers deemed indispensable aboard the Talion.